Johnson pumped for return to action

LOS ANGELES - The man once called "the Rock" is going back to a hard place.

LOS ANGELES - The man once called "the Rock" is going back to a hard place.

After establishing himself as a family-friendly movie star with The Game Plan, Race to Witch Mountain and Tooth Fairy, actor Dwayne Johnson is going in a different direction with his next film: Faster, a brutal tale of R-rated vengeance due in November at theaters.

"I'm taking it a different place with this one," Johnson said recently, and that was clear by his surroundings.

The 37-year-old actor with the diesel physique was standing on a gritty stretch of Los Angeles sidewalk dotted with taverns and tattoo parlors. During one break, Johnson looked down at one of his sinewy arms with disapproval: His fake prison tattoo was starting to fade.

"This," he said to a makeup-team member, "needs some work."

As a crew member with a pen carefully restored the dark edges, Johnson talked about doing much the same thing for his acting career.

"I'm excited about this; it's been some time since I've been in this space," Johnson said, referring to the genre. "My genetic makeup is one of physicality. I'm a visceral guy. And career-wise, it was time to change it up and keep things interesting."

This is the 10th anniversary of the former pro wrestler's great Hollywood adventure, and he has been aggressive throughout, even when his characters veered toward cuddly or - as with the cloying Tooth Fairy - the movies tanked with critics and moviegoers.

In many ways, Johnson is like his good friend Arnold Schwarzenegger, who famously came to Hollywood with a relentless appetite for success and a background as a brawny competitor.

For one thing, both the wrestler and the bodybuilder talk about their careers in terms that a chief executive would love.

"It's about creating opportunities where I can take this brand and expand it," Johnson said. "That could mean foundation work or outside marketing opportunities. But movies are what drive it, always. That's my passion. The goal is to make great movies and to make them in a variety of genres."

Almost every big-time movie star thinks in blended terms of art and commerce, but most aren't comfortable talking about it publicly.

Johnson, though, grew up thinking about crowd-pleasing victories and box-office receipts. But it was in the wrestling ring that Johnson became an international celebrity known simply as "the Rock."

Switching back and forth between hero and villain, the muscular 6-foot-4 fighter won (and lost) the championship more than a half-dozen times. By the late 1990s, his arched eyebrow and ironic detachment from his peers had taken him into settings such as Saturday Night Live and The Martha Stewart Show.

Then he turned to Hollywood, where he knew his bid to become a star would be met by smirks. His first significant role was as Mathayus the Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns, but, from the start, Johnson wanted to go beyond bare-chested bad guys.

"Because I got into it in a nontraditional way, I decided the best way to find success was to get a broad base of work," Johnson said. "I knew credibility would come only in time and through earnest performances."